Flags to be lowered in Pennsylvania in memory of VanKirk

In this Aug. 25, 2010, photo, Theodore "Dutch" VanKirk, navigator of the Enola Gay, talks about his experiences during World War II, at Park Springs, the retirement community where he was living in Stone Mountain, Ga. VanKirk, the last surviving member of the crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima has died. Tom VanKirk says his father, 93-year-old Theodore VanKirk, died Monday, July 28, 2014, in Stone Mountain. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal Constitution, Bita Honarvar)

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1945 file photo made available by the U.S. Army, the crew of the Enola Gay is debriefed in Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands after returning from their mission over Hiroshima, Japan. At foreground left, seated at the corner of the table, is Capt. Thodore Van Kirk, navigator. Tom Van Kirk says his 93-year-old father, the last surviving member of a crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died in Stone Mountain, Ga. on Monday, July 28, 2014. (AP Photo)

The Associated Press

HARRISBURG (AP) — Gov. Tom Corbett has ordered U.S. and state flags to fly at half-staff at state facilities in Harrisburg and Northumberland County in honor of a Pennsylvania native who was the last surviving crew member of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Flags are to be lowered Tuesday until sundown in memory of Capt. Theodore “Dutch” VanKirk, whose funeral is scheduled that day in his hometown of Northumberland.

VanKirk was the navigator on the B-29 bomber called the Enola Gay. He once said he thought the catastrophic bombing of the Japanese city in 1945 was necessary because it shortened the war, but that he would like to see all of the world’s atomic bombs abolished.